It's his way or the highway. I'm sure you've all heard that
expression before to describe somebody who insists on everything
being done their way, that they're always right. You know, if it
said in reference to an overbearing boss or anyone who would narrow-mindedly
insist that everything must be done according to how they would
do it or else you can hit the road, Well, it's typically then
not meant as a compliment, is it? But when it comes to spiritual
things, and more specifically, the way of eternal salvation,
the scripture makes it clear there is only one way, and that
way is Christ, who said of himself in John 14, 6, I am the way,
the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father
Now that's not ambiguous, is it? And unlike us far from perfect
men and women who may on occasion selfishly and sinfully insist
that everything must be our way or else it's the highway, the
all-wise, all-knowing Creator, the sovereign God of this universe
He has every right and is perfectly just in asserting just that.
That when it comes to His gospel, when it comes to insisting on
salvation according to His precise way, the only way of salvation,
whereby God could and He does achieve His chief design in all
things to glorify Himself, that He, see, might receive all the
praise and all glory. in the salvation of sinners and
in everything. That He might be shown, revealed
as both a just God and a merciful Savior. You see, as God, He deserves
no less than to receive all glory and all praise. And the one way
of salvation that's set forth in the Bible, that is God's gospel,
it's a way of mercy and grace in Christ. That means it's based
solely upon that which Christ accomplished for every sinner
that he saves by his obedience unto death on the cross in their
place as their substitute. And so to apply our modern vernacular
here, salvation is in fact his one way or else it's the highway,
that broad road, that highway that leads to destruction. And
in the two verses I've chosen as our text for today, Hosea
10 verses 12 and 13, we'll see God's characterization through
His prophet Hosea of a problem, the problem that initially plagues
us all due to our sinful, fallen nature, that nature we're born
with. We'll see it in God's indictment
of the nation Israel here, how they had trusted in their own
way But graciously, we also see in this short, concise passage
here, God's sure and certain way of salvation, a way of mercy
and grace through the righteousness of another, the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll be speaking more of
that, of course, as we go on. Before we dive into the text,
though, first let me give you a little bit of background. contains
the prophet's message from God that was directed primarily to
the ten tribes of Israel that comprise the northern kingdom. You remember the kingdom of Israel
was divided in two tribes to the south and ten to the north.
And as we get to chapter 10 today in our text, Hosea is addressing
that northern kingdom and actually the southern kingdom's problem,
their core problem. their sin, which specifically
included their religious practices, their idolatry that they practiced
in self-righteousness and unbelief. We see that at the onset of the
chapter, beginning in chapter 10, verse 1, when the prophet
writes, Israel is as an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit
unto himself. According to the multitude of
his fruit, he hath increased the altars." And that's speaking
of altars of idolatry. According to the goodness of
his land, they have made goodly images. Again, those images referring
to their idols. Their heart is divided. Now shall
they be found faulty. He shall break down their altars.
He shall spoil their images. And notice there in verse 1 he
described their problem in these words saying, they were bringing
forth fruit unto themselves. So that's not fruit, see, that
would be glorifying to God. It would not be to the praise
of the glory of His grace, His way, but to their praise and
glory, their way. that bringing forth fruit unto
themselves. It's the same as what Paul called
in Romans 7, fruit unto death, because that's where it leads,
eternal death. Now, Hosea's indictment here
in warning against Israel due unto their idolatry and unbelief,
it continues from this point at the beginning of chapter 10
until we get down to our text for today, where we're going
to start in verse 12. And up until verse 12, what we have
are words of judgment against Israel, words that can actually
be applied spiritually to all of us in our original state of
unbelief. But when we get to verse 12,
he graciously directs them to the remedy that they and every
other sinner so desperately needs when he says this, sow to yourselves
in righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and reign righteousness
upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye
have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies, because,
look at this, thou distrust in thy way and the multitude of
thy mighty men. Now, from here to the end of
the chapter in those last two verses, we have Hosea's prophecy
of the future physical destruction that Israel would and did face
at the hands of the Assyrian army because of their idolatry
and unbelief. But I wanted to just focus this
morning on these two verses because they stood out to me in that
in this concise section of scripture we see both the spiritual problem,
the disease of all in unbelief, but graciously we also see the
certain remedy or the cure. And I'm speaking of a disease
that's diagnosed in all of us and the cure that is needed by
all of us. So let's just begin with a consideration
of the problem as it's described by the prophet in verse 13 where
we read, ye have plowed wickedness ye have reaped iniquity, ye have
eaten the fruit of lies, because thou distrust in thy way in the
multitude of thy mighty men." There are many gospels, many
ways, see, by which men and women imagine they might be saved,
but they all can be categorized in one of just two ways. One
of them is God's way. And all others fall under the
category of the way of man, as Hosea calls it here, thy way.
It's either the way of grace, God's way, or it's the way of
works, man's way. And that's such a simple distinction,
but it is such a vital distinction. For see, it's useful in discerning
the vital difference as to whether one is truly saved, a born again
believer, or else still unwittingly but nonetheless lost in unbelief. So I ask you this morning, in
which way do you trust? Is your salvation presumed to
be a product of your own doing, your acceptance of Jesus, your
decision for Jesus? Whatever it might be that you
feel that you've been able to do, or that God even maybe has
done through you, but something that proceeds from you that you
think is a determining factor, I'll put it that way, in your
salvation, or rather, are you trusting solely in the product,
the merit of someone else's doing, and I'm speaking, of course,
specifically of the finished cross work that Jesus Christ,
the Savior, has done for those that he saves. Now I want you
to observe several things here in Hosea's description of their
evil. First he started off saying they
plowed wickedness. Plowed wickedness. That's indicative
of an evil or a wickedness that we do not recognize by nature
to be evil or wicked. You see it's that which is committed
deliberately in the practice of religion. Hosea here is continuing
to address, as we read at the first of the chapter, their idolatry. And look, no one knowingly worships
an idol. You know, when God gives faith
through the preaching of his gospel, he gives life so that
we might have an understanding and see, that's we come to him
in faith and repentance. We repent of an idol. Up until
then, if we were worshiping a false god or a god as we imagined him
to be, I'm not speaking of an idol of stone, but an idol of
imagination. Up until then, if we had known
we were sadly mistaken, that we had it all together wrong
about who he was and specifically how he saved sinners, He uniquely,
see, reveals himself in how he saves sinners. Well, we would
have immediately repented, and we do when God shows us that. But the point is here, what they
were doing in plowing wickedness is they were totally unaware
of the fact that they're worshiping an idol. An idol is a false god. You don't worship one knowingly.
Hosea is speaking here of a presumed but false way of salvation. and of that which they've sowed,
fruit unto themselves, as he called it, or fruit unto death.
Plowing wickedness and reaping iniquity, see, is what we all
do by nature. And listen, it shows up in our
first genuine interest of spiritual things. We ask ourselves, well,
I want to go to heaven. What do I need to do? And I'll
talk about that some more in a moment. But it's to look for
salvation. an acceptance before God based
upon something done by us or through us, listen, as sinners. Now everything we do is then
sin tainted. It's tainted by our sin. So the
Bible says we reap what we sow, thereby in approaching it as
sinners, a product of sinnerhood, we reap. Sin piled upon sin. We sin in that religious endeavor
that would have us seeking salvation based ultimately on some decision
or something we do. So, Hosea is not telling Israel
that they've fallen into some gross immorality, although many
of them may well have. But no, here in using this analogy
of farming, he's suggesting to them, you've labored, you've
strived in your religious zeal, you've plowed, so as to reap,
but you've plowed as servants of sin, reaping sin. Plowing wickedness, see, only
reaps iniquity or sin. And theirs is a way of iniquity
or inequity, you see, for it's a way that ignores the perfection
that God and his holy justice demand. It's a presumed way of
salvation that fails to address the sinner's need for a perfect
righteousness, one that will measure up or be equal, be equitable
to that which a holy God requires. So their way, our way by nature,
is a way void of the impeccable righteousness of God, which Acts
17 31 tells us is the very righteousness by which all of us shall be judged. The righteousness of God in Christ. That's what he accomplished for
his people by his obedience unto death on Calvary's cross. So
plowing wickedness is to seek to meet God's requirement for
acceptance, righteousness, by your own efforts, self-righteousness. To the contrary, Romans 10 teaches
that true believers are those who've been brought to see that
Christ is the end, the finishing or fulfillment of the law for
righteousness. That is, that's the very perfect
satisfaction to God's justice that is necessary for any to
be accepted before a holy God. There's a great illustration,
I think, of what it means to plow wickedness and reap iniquity
in the picture that you heard in the 10 o'clock hour from Bill
on those preachers who stand at the judgment. Our Lord related
that in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, beginning in verse
21. He said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, and
they're calling on the name of Christ here now. Not every one
of them shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. So in other words,
he's saying not all who are plowing, who make an effort in their natural
desire to go to heaven, even those who will do so by invoking
the name of Christ. Not all of them shall enter in.
And he continues saying, many will say to me in that day, and
that's referring to the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And look
what our Lord's response is. He says, then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me And he says, ye
that work iniquity. Think of that. These are preachers
prophesying, preaching in his name. And he says, that's plowing
wickedness and reaping iniquity. For you see, they approach the
judgment pleading their own works. They're resting in what they
have done in order to be saved. And our Lord says, that's iniquity,
that's sin. It's inequitable, say, for it
does not equal that which is required. It falls far short.
I think a version of this passage that might be applied to many
who call themselves Christians in our day might go something
like this, Lord, Lord, have we not accepted you as our personal
Savior? Have we not believed upon you? Have we not strived to keep your
commandments? Have we not done our best? Have
not we, we, we, you could just go on and fill in the blank.
That's salvation by works. That's plowing, but it's plowing
wickedness and it's reaping iniquity. Not because they believed. All, all who are saved, they
will believe on the name of the Lord, but to believe on Him is
to believe in His doing and dying, not believing in their believing.
You see, here's why it's plowing wickedness and reaping iniquity.
It's because they're daring to supplant that which is required
for a sinner's acceptance before God, the very righteousness of
Christ. And they're daring to supplant
that with that which they presume is required of them to do in
order to make the difference. they're supplanting his accomplished
saving work, replacing it with the product of a sinner, the
sentient work of the sinner, as if our receiving him or our
acceptance of him could do what actually took the shedding of
his precious blood for us. Now there's where we see the
evil and the wickedness. In other words, what took, what
was necessary for us to be accepted by Him. That's the issue. Now look again in verse 13 where
Hosea says, that ye have eaten the fruit of lies. When we seek
salvation, the way that seems right to us by nature. It's because
we bought into the popular but false and natural, natural to
our fallen nature. natural fallen religious doctrine
that we've been taught. It's a way of salvation that
is widely taught in our day. It's a false gospel doctrine
that suggests that salvation is at least in some way to some
degree conditioned on something we do or something we don't do.
And you know by nature that seems right to us. And so we bite into
that fruit of lies, hook, line, and sinker. Some of you of my
generation, or maybe older, will remember the Jonestown Massacre. It was a mass suicide that took
place back in 1978 by this religious cult. The cult leader was this
guy named Jim Jones, and he convinced his followers to move to Jonestown,
and then he later convinced them, or ordered them, to commit mass
suicide by drinking a grape-flavored Kool-Aid that had been laced
with potassium cyanide. If I recall, there were, I think,
over 1,100 people there at Jonestown, and over 900 of those residents
drank the Kool-Aid and died. And one of the lasting legacies
from that tragedy is this saying, don't drink the Kool-Aid. In a spiritual sense, that's
what we all by nature will do. It's not because we're ignorant,
it's because we're spiritually ignorant. We're spiritually dead.
We do not have the faculties of life to know any different. As Hosea puts it, we will eat
the fruit of lies. We will drink the Kool-Aid and
this fruit of lies that suggests to you salvation is at least
in part based upon some requirement that you, the sinner, meets thy
way. Well, that lie is just as deadly. to our eternal well-being
as that potassium cyanide laced Kool-Aid was for the physical
well-being of those that drank it that day in Jonestown. Back
in verse 13, Hosea continues saying, we've eaten the fruit
of lies because thou distrust in thy way in the multitude of
thy mighty men. I want us to consider what all
this means, to trust in our own way. rather than in God's way
of salvation by grace. First, our way is a way that
seems right to us by nature. As I've said, we often quote
from Proverbs 16, 25, where God says, there is a way that seemeth
right to a man. There's a way that may seem right
to this man and another way that may seem right to this man, but
here's the kicker, the end thereof are the ways of death. If it's
a way that seems naturally right to you, it's It's among the ways
of death. Secondly, trusting in our own
way can also be understood as trusting in a way that is at
least procured, in part, in part procured, if not totally, by
our doing, our works, instead of God's doing alone. That's grace. That's what grace
and works are. And the scripture's clear, salvation's
by grace, not by works. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2, 8, 9. And as Romans
4, 4 and following teaches us, now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. That is, in fulfilling
whatever your preferred brand of false religion, prescribes
as being necessary for you to do in order to be saved, you
expose that you really didn't need grace at that time. You
just needed to fulfill the requirement. You just needed to cut your end
of the deal. If you'll just believe, if you'll just now in the quietness
of your heart say this prayer, if you'll just receive, if you'll
just be baptized, whatever, if you will, And so then you presume
on that basis, and you get a lot of comfort from those who spread
that false doctrine, that you'll get your heavenly reward for
having done so, for having done your part. And listen, in thinking
like that, in other words, it's now owed to you. So many think
that God's message to us is, I will save you if you will do
something, and that's a promise from God. He's got to deliver
on his promises. So they imagine God now owes
them. It's of debt. But that's not
God's way. Notice Paul continues in verse
5 saying, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
You know, I have trouble with that last phrase sometimes, but
if we'll consider it in the context, I think you get a better idea
of what it truly means, what Paul's intent here. It helps
me, I read this verse to myself this way sometimes to help me
keep it clear, and I think you'll see as we go forward how this
is the sense he's intending. He's saying, but to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. He's saying that which his faith
looked to for righteousness was the righteousness that was counted,
imputed, or charged to him, see, by God's grace. And we see that
as we continue into verse 6 that that's what he's talking about
because he says, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute or charge with sin. See, for those God saves, all
who will ultimately come to Him in faith, come to rest in Christ
alone for all of their salvation, their sins were all imputed or
charged to Christ that He might fully pay the penalty due unto
the guilt of their sins before the bar of God's holy justice.
God has imputed or charged to their accounts. the very justice,
satisfying righteousness that Christ rendered, see, for them
by his obedience even unto the death of the cross. Thirdly,
as we consider man's way, the way of salvation by works, it
would seem right to us by nature. In sharp contrast to God's way
of grace, we see it is the more popular way. And we notice that
aspect of Hosea's description when he wrote, because I distrust
in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men. And I think we
do have a dual meaning here. He's speaking of their mighty
warriors for their physical safety, but we know he's also dealing
with their spiritual warfare, their very idolatry here as well. And the multitude here is identified
by the reliance on their might. And this speaks of man's way.
So from that spiritual perspective, it's a way whereby we seek to
be saved by our own power, our goodness, our might. It reminds
me of one of my favorite passages in the scripture where God is
speaking through the prophet Jeremiah. And beginning in verse
23 of chapter 9, there he says, Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom." The word glory here speaks of that which we would
boast in or where the basis of our hope is. He's saying, don't
rely on that way that would seem right to you according to your
own wisdom. And then look at this, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might. That's in the work of
your own hand, man's might. As if he, the sinner, had the
power or might to save himself. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches." In other words, don't judge any temporal success
or riches, as most of us in America compared to the rest of the world
could certainly have reason to, if we're so inclined in our fallen
sinful nature. He's saying don't take your good
circumstances temporarily to be an indication, oh that means
I'm in good stead, eternally speaking, with God. But he says,
well let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, Jehovah God who saves. which exercise loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, saith the Lord." It's the Lord's doing. It's what he
exercised in the earth as he lived here and died and rose
again to save his people from their sins. Fourthly, the way
of salvation is by works. It seems right to us by nature,
our way. in sharp contrast to God's way
of grace is a way that ends in eternal destruction. And I think
that's akin to the prophecy of Hosea in those last two verses
we did not read regarding the physical destruction of Israel.
But spiritually speaking, man's natural way of salvation is a
way of eternal death, as I've just quoted from Proverbs. Our
Lord described it this way in the Sermon on the Mount beginning
in Matthew 7.13 where we read, enter ye in at the straight gate
for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and many there be which go in there at because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few
there be that find it. Here we have these two ways described. and the broad way, the highway,
so to speak. The one most traveled, it leads
to destruction. In contrast to God's way, the
less traveled way, which leads unto eternal life. You know,
so you can see how in this sense we can apply the popular expression
I used in today's sermon title, because it really is God's way
or the highway. Now that teaches us we cannot
measure the validity of our view of salvation, our gospel, by
its popularity. Just as Israel, it would be proven
to them that they could not rely upon their many mighty warriors
for their physical safety, neither should we rely upon and take
comfort in being numbered among the many who rely upon a false
refuge of their own might. upon something that proceeds
from them, that they imagine they can deliver, that will make
the real difference in their own salvation. Listen, ultimately,
we must not drink that Kool-Aid. We must not eat that fruit of
lies. It's deadly to remain in that
camp. Now, Hosea, he not only described
their problem, a disease common to us all, But likewise, he describes
the sure and the certain cure back in verse 12, where we read,
so to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your
fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come
and reign righteousness upon you. In this Holy Spirit inspired
language, we have concisely depicted God's way of salvation. in sharp
contrast to the natural way of fallen sinful man that we just
examined in verse 13. And here God graciously gives
us the answer to our desperate need. Now think about this. If, like me, you believe salvation
is truly of grace, It's really not at all conditioned on me
and you, the sinner, in any way or to any degree. The natural
question we have is, well, then what do we do? In this verse,
we have not only a prophecy, but we have a commandment from
God. Notice he says, it is time to seek the Lord. The Lord. The Lord here again is Jehovah
God, our Savior. That's the covenant God of grace
and mercy. who justifies ungodly sinners
such as we all are. And it's that God you are to
seek. He's telling the nation here
not to turn to Egypt or Assyria as they had sought alliances
with them, contrary to God's commands. He's telling them don't
turn to idols, specifically not to look to themselves. Instead,
he's saying turn to the Lord. that is, who justified the father
of their nation, that covenant God, Abraham. He justified Abraham,
as we know from Romans 4, based upon the work of the promised
Messiah, imputing the very righteousness to Abraham while in uncircumcision,
we read there, the righteousness that Christ would later work
out on the cross of Calvary. He's telling this nation to seek
the Lord who had established for their nation under that old
covenant economy, the sacrificial system, by which sinners were
taught how they might approach a holy God for acceptance through
a blood offering. The blood offering of an animal
on the altar, which pictured that blood offering of the future
Lamb of God on Calvary's cross. As Christ told us, those Old
Testament scriptures, they spoke of me. Israel had sought after
God according to their own ways, their own thoughts and ideas.
But as Hosea had explained in the prior verses, they had failed
to seek the Lord. In other words, they failed to
seek him as he is. And there's where we all find
our common ground with this nation, in this idolatry. Now, many folks,
most folks, They do not think of themselves as ever having
worshipped an idol. But consider this, the Bible
tells us that all of us, by nature, will not seek the Lord, not the
Lord, not as He's revealed. That is, we will not, of our
own free will, seek the Lord as He is. As Romans 3, 10, and
11 declare, as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not There's none that understandeth look. There's none that seeketh
after God." Now, if you believe the Bible, then you must believe
this factual statement, that in our natural state, none of
us seek after the true and living God. And yet, if we've yet to
be confronted with how we actually worship an idol, not one of stone,
but one of our imaginations, having imagined that God would
save me altogether differently than by the way of grace he reveals. And so therefore, he that is
revealed in that way is not the true and living God, not a just
God and a Savior whereby he receives the glory. You see, you've heard our former pastor,
I think, put it this way. If you've never been an idolater,
then guess what? You've never repented from idolatry. And yet, that gift of repentance
is one and the same with the gift of faith. As we turn to
Christ for all of our salvation, we turn away from that idolatrous
notion we had about how God might save us. And so, men who can
never see that they actually worshiped God in a wrong way,
with erroneous notions about who he was and how he saved sinners,
they have to read this this way. He'd say that, as it is written,
there's none righteous, no, not one, except me. There's none
that understandeth, except me. There's none that seeketh after
God, except me. Well, that's not how it reads.
So he says none of us by nature will seek him. And yet we're
commanded to seek him. Consider these verses. From the
prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55, 6, seek ye the Lord while he
may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. You know, he's brought near every
time the gospel of God's grace, wherein his righteousness is
revealed, is preached, even today. And then consider Christ himself,
what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, 33, when
he said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
We're commanded to seek. Now some will object, wait a
minute, you just showed me how God declares that none will seek
after him, and yet you've also shown me how we are indeed commanded
to seek after him. Are you saying that I may seek
him and yet not find him? Is God playing some kind of playing
with us here, toying with us? Well, let's look at God's word
for an answer to that. In Isaiah 45, 19, the Lord says,
I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I
said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord,
speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
See, God has never commanded anyone to seek him in vain. You
won't find anywhere in the scripture God saying, seek me but you may
not find me. No, instead, again in the Sermon
on the Mount, Christ himself said in Matthew 7, beginning
verse 7, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall
find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Now, here is how what may seem
on the surface to be a paradox to be rightly, how it should
be rightly understood by nature according to our own way, according
to our own natural thoughts and ideas, ideas that are derived
from what the scripture calls our desperately wicked hearts.
Born in darkness, spiritually dead, that means we're spiritually
blind, we're deceived. It's not our It's not our IQ.
It's not our intellect. We can't see without God-given
spiritual life. So in that state, we don't know
how to seek the Lord, not seek Him His way in accordance with
who He is and how He reveals Himself in His one way of salvation. This takes a work of the Holy
Spirit. But listen, the Spirit speaks
through His Word. And here in Hosea 10-12, he graciously
tells us how. It's right here for us to see
if so blessed with the God-given understanding of faith. Here's
what he says. We're to sow to yourselves in
righteousness. Reap in mercy, break up your
fallow ground. Now what does that mean, to sow
to yourselves in righteousness? You know, on the surface, it
may seem that, well, maybe that means I'm supposed to go out
and try to make myself righteous by my best efforts, do the best
I can to see if I can earn or merit God's eternal favor and
blessing. Well, we know that can't be what
is meant. Other scriptures tell us this.
We know from Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy, reaping in mercy.
According to his mercy, he saved us. And so we know if this sowing
to yourselves in righteousness, if it referred to our own efforts,
well, Hosea would have had to applaud Israel. He would not
have been bringing judgment upon them, for they were zealous in
their religion. As Paul wrote, he said, I bear
them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. See, Israel was seeking something.
They were busy about their religion. If I ask what they were busy
about, you know, they may well have replied, we're so into righteousness. It reminds me in our day of one
who will believe the popular notion that Jesus Christ died
for all men without exception. And the difference in me going
to heaven or hell is, oh, I received it. I accepted it or I believed. And then they'll say, oh yeah,
I believe salvation by grace. Well, that's what it'd be like
for Israel here to be claimed to have been sowing to righteousness. That's not grace. They may have said we're sowing
to righteousness, but God's commentary on what Israel was doing was
anything but that. Look with me at that in Romans
9, beginning of verse 31. where it reads, but Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, or why? Because they
sought it not by faith. Well, then how did they seek
righteousness? How did they seek to acquire
that which God requires for eternal salvation? He says, not by faith,
but as it were, by the works of the law, by their works. They
were trying to be righteous by their works, by their keeping
of the law. They were trusting in their way. For they stumbled on that stumbling
stone, as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion, and that's a symbol
of the church, a stumbling stone and a rock of offense. And whosoever
believeth on him, that stumbling stone's a person, a him, shall
not be ashamed. In other words, they'll find
trusting in that to have been trustworthy. That's referring
to Christ, the stumbling stone. To seek righteousness then by
faith is to seek it in Christ. And listen, seeking it in Christ
is to find it in Christ. Seek and ye shall find. As we
read from Matthew, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Paul is showing here in Romans
that to seek righteousness by your works is futile. You won't
find it there. It did not attain to the law
of righteousness. But as he continues now down
into chapter 10, as I quoted to you earlier from verse 4,
it's declared that for all true believers, Christ is the end
or the finishing, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness. And if you're a true believer,
That's where you find your righteousness. It's amazing to me as I considered
this verse. There's so many scriptures like
this that remind me of the different frame of reference we have after
God's given us eyes to see. You know, I used to read that
and I'd say, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. In other words, he'll be the
end of the law for your righteousness if you'll believe. That's the
way I translate. And if you'll just say, let me
look at it a different way here. And the way we're shown with
the eyes of faith, it's to say, everyone that believeth. If you're
a believer, that's where you find the end of the law for righteousness
in Christ. Anyway, just a side note there,
but it's always amazing to me how something so simple we're
so blind to in spiritual darkness. The scripture says we reap what
we sow. Notice how there in verse 12 of our text, that along with
that command to sow to yourselves in righteousness, it says reap
in mercy. Break up your fallow ground.
You see, if we truly sow in righteousness, in keeping with what is intended
here, we reap in mercy. And that tells you a lot about
what sowing in righteousness is all about. That means we reap
in mercy, in the merits of another, not our own. We find equity. a righteousness that actually
does measure up, see, to the demands of God's holy law and
justice. And it's an interesting contrast
here between this command, so as to reap in mercy, rather than
plowing so as to reap iniquity. See, we're to seek God from the
perspective of what you really are, a sinner, in desperate need
of mercy. To seek the Lord is to be reduced
to the plea, God be merciful to me, the sinner. If you come
to God on the basis of something done by you, or in you, or through
you, because you received Jesus, or you accepted him, whatever,
you're not reaping mercy because you don't even need mercy by
that way of thinking. See? All you've got to do is
fulfill whatever the requirements set forth before you. you know,
fulfill your end of the bargain as it's prescribed by whatever
religious denomination you happen to follow. But listen, if anyone
comes to you and promotes that salvation is in any way, somehow,
conditioned to any degree on you rather than solely conditioned
on Christ, then don't drink their Kool-Aid. Don't eat that fruit
of lies. That's not sowing in righteousness
and I hope you can see it's certainly not reaping in mercy. Now only
God the Holy Spirit can and does break up the fallow ground of
our hearts that would have us swallow our self-righteous religious
pride that makes us think we could do something to save ourselves
and instead come to Christ for all of our salvation. We see
that in the Lord's description of this saving work of the Spirit
in Ezekiel 36, where there beginning in verse 25, he says, Then will
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all
your filthiness. And from all your idols will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh. In other words, the fallow ground
will be broken up. And I'll give you a heart of
flesh. a fleshy, pliable heart, one that's been made willing
to seek the Lord based upon His way, not the highway, His way
of righteousness. And then in the latter part of
verse 12, we read, for it is time to seek the Lord till He
come and reign righteousness upon you. We ask, what then do
we do if it's all of grace? We seek the Lord. Hosea is speaking
of something to come here when he says, till He come and reign
righteousness upon you. It's referring to Christ, the
coming Messiah. And we can know that in part
because back in chapter 6 of Hosea, he had used that same
rain metaphor to describe in a real clear prophecy of the
coming Messiah. Rain, see, falls from the heavens.
And that's where the only perfect righteousness comes from that
will fit our need and find us justified, not guilty. accepted
in the beloved, as the scripture says, in Christ before a holy
God. God's telling Israel he's going to send this rain and by
revelation of the New Testament we know he indeed has. He sent
the Lord our righteousness. That's how Christ and his church
are both described by the prophet Jeremiah. The psalmist spoke
of Christ's coming in similar terms in Psalm 72, 6, excuse
me, where it reads, he shall come down like rain upon the
mown grass as showers that water the earth. Well, that's what
we need. We need righteousness to rain down upon the broken
ground of our hearts that we might seek and find him as the
Lord our righteousness. The Bible, see, teaches us that's
God's way of salvation. It's a way of His might, it's
a way of mercy and grace, a way of righteousness. And as we've
seen today, God's one way of salvation, it is a narrow way.
It's not the broad highway of today's popular versions of so-called
Christianity or any other religion that will have their adherents
trusting in their own way rather than His. It's important that
you see this difference. the difference in these two ways. Because see, it truly is God's
way or the highway. And we're talking about where
we're going to spend eternity. So I pray that all who hear this
message, they'll heed Hosea's warning that it's time to seek
the Lord. You do well to make time for that. I pray that the
Lord whose righteousness reigns from heaven and the person and
work of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago, will in our day reign
righteousness upon your heart, so that by His blood-bought gift
of faith you'll flee to Christ for His righteousness." See,
that's God's way. That's the only way of salvation.
It truly is His way or the highway. Thank you.